A German advocacy group has organized an event designed to get participants to bring their “killer games” to in order to dispose of them in a trash can.

Aktionsbündnis Amoklauf Winnenden, or Action Alliance (loosely translated), has setup the event for this Saturday, October 17 in front of the Stuttgart State Opera. One game tosser will win a signed jersey from the German national soccer team. No word on what will be done with the “donated” games, but presumably they will be smashed or discarded in some way.

GP reader Matthias noted that one image used in the group’s promotion for the event appears to use a modified copy of an image designed to aid Germany in ridding use of the swastika, substituting a CD or DVD for the Nazi symbol.

The Action Alliance is made up, at least partially, of the parents of children slain earlier this year at the awful school shooting incident in Winnenden, Germany, which claimed 16 lives.

Comments

I can only try to image the pain losing a child do to a school shooting could cause. I am sure that the members of this organization are doing what they feel is "right." They are probably sensitive to violence, maybe phobic. I support their freedom of expression as long as it does not hurt the rights of others. On a less serious note I feel they should buy a lot of violent video games to destroy. It would only be supporting the industry.

How much you want to bet that a large portions of these games will end up back in the market. This is just easy pickings, and i'm not sure of taking those games would even be illegal, isn't ok to just grab anything if it's in the trash

1. Remember that this is not the German government that's doing this. While there are parallels with the old book burnings, I'm also reminded of ludicrous American groups burning records of the Beatles, and later heavy metal bands. It's the usual over-reaction of parent groups, I'm sure everyone here has seen it on the news at least once.

2. The image the group are using is based on the 'Keep it tidy' sign where the figure is putting rubbish into a bin. I thought it was a UK symbol but I guess it's used in all of Europe (Naturally) and so it was used in Germany with the swastika for a different purpose. It certainly wasn't the swastika to begin with.

3. Yes this is stupid.

I'm also reminded me the Wakken music festival in Germany, where I heard that thousands of German Christians lobbied people going into it - they honestly feared they were being corrupted by Satan - and went as far as offering to buy tickets off people and then burning them (The tickets, not the people).

Of course, this didn't stop one of the bands telling the crowd: "There are 10,000 of them out there and 60, 000 of us in here. I want us all to shout as loud as we can: SATAN!".

No need to talk about the Nazi comparison, it's already been talked about.

What I can't understand is why they're giving away signed jerseys of the German National Soccer team. If one were being compelled to toss out their "killer games", they damn well better hear a better incentive than another stupid shirt- they better be getting a free copy of FIFA or another sports game, like football.

I mean, what's wrong with grown men slamming into each other in a high-risk game where your bones are liable to be broken? It's not like schools and parents condone those activities. </sarcasm>

As the once-mighty German work ethic collapsed into pure welfare-state laziness, the entire country became like this. The same effect is creeping into other countries more and more every year. The more the adult public looks to a surrogate parent in the nanny government, the more you see this kind of crap.

What nutcase and which power, and why single out Germany? This is about a whole bunch of whack jobs that don't have any power whatsoever and are part of a phenomenon that isn't restricted to Germany. Does your comment have anything at all to do with the article at hand or did your brain shut off at the "German" in the headline?

First it was a joke, granted dark humor but either everything is fair game or nothing is.

Secondly everytime a game is banned or there is some kind of game burning that has actual steam it always seems to be a country outside of North America. Luckily here in the US we just have a loud mouth jobless former attorney and a hemorrhoid on Fox News who's never played a game before in his life.

In all fairness, this report is only telling us about a small group of nutcases. I doubt they're going to get much turnout. Most people who are willing to believe this kind of nonsense aren't likely to have violent video games in the first place.

That's exactly what I am thinking. Maybe they want to contrast what is good and what is bad. Seeing that the event is about killer games being bad, the right side must be the correct thing to do. Make does that mean about the left side?

Nah, I am just joking around. But aren't they doing exactly what the Nazis did? Like book burning?

Harry Potter is not so maligned. Instead, I think video games are the new comic books / rock and roll / [anything new and unfamiliar to the previous generation]. It's just the same old story of conservatards of all political persuasions fighting against the inevitable evolution of human culture.

Can someone PLEASE explain the logic in this? I really hope they don't think violence is gonna stop outta the blue just because they are throwing games away and if they are then God help the human race.

Don't you know? Violence didn't exist before Pong came out. The Crusades were actually just giant shoving matches (Grossman actually said that). Vietnam never happened. It's propaganda put out by the video game companies. World War II was real, the video game companies traveled back in time to start it so they could make games off of it. They also started World War One, mostly because they liked the sound of "World War Two" for their games.

I've managed to track down the source. It's from Trained to Kill, by David Grossman:

"Throughout human history, when humans fight each other, there is a lot of posturing. Adversaries make loud noises and puff themselves up, trying to daunt the enemy. There is a lot of fleeing and submission. Ancient battles were nothing more than great shoving matches. It was not until one side turned and ran that most of the killing happened, and most of that was stabbing people in the back. All of the ancient military historians report that the vast majority of killing happened in pursuit when one side was fleeing."

I don't think he's saying modern violence levels have their origins in Pong, however. Instead, he's saying violent games have the same potential to turn people into killers as modern boot camps have the power to turn soldiers into killing machines.

While I enjoy laughing at idiots, he is technically correct, at least if he is referencing the Ancient Greeks.

Ancient Greek battles consisted of Hoplites in phanlax formation, the resulting fight turned into a giant pushing match along the shield wall, the Front row would have to maintain the shield wall's cohesion while the rows behind them would push forward in an attempt to break the opposing shield wall. Whichever side broke usually ran and thats when the majority of the casualities would occur.

Granted I don't understand his overall reference to this particular style of warfare that occured for a small period of time.

I can think of so many ways how gamers could, out of protest, make a farce out of this; But that would be inconsiderate towards the victims and might come off the wrong way. On the other hand, i feel this group already makes a farce out of this tragedy.

I "almost" wish i was near germany, when everyone was throwing their games away, i'd be picking through the pile like a scavenger.
hell i'd be circling the pre-throw away like a vulture.
It'd be awesome.

I feel sorry for their losses, but as always, scapegoating mere perpetuates the problems. There is no evidence linking video games to the cause of these crimes, and even if we believe the studies that show a causal link between games and aggression, the games are a minor element (most studies I've seen only claim a slight increase in aggression) amidst what are presumably much bigger problems.

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